, 
Pe rn Oe ae. 
259 
pool, in looking at some silks, enquired whether the piece she was 
looking at was all silk? “No,” said the shopman, “it is mixed 
with something as good as silk, called jute.” “I know what jute 
is,” said the lady; “silks made of jute will not suit me.” 
A new description of cloth made from jute is produced at the 
Barrow Mills, for which a prize medal was awarded at the late 
exhibition in Paris. I wrote to the manager asking for some 
information respecting the jute cloth, and for samples. They have 
been kind enough to send as many webs as would enable me to 
start a small retail shop.* 
I must now address myself to the antiquity of flax and flax- 
workers, in as few words as a subject embracing such a wide field 
will admit of. 
The linen manufacture appears to have had its origin among 
the Egyptians. The flax plant was indigenous in Egypt. From 
the statement made in the Book of Exodus, we may infer that flax 
was extensively cultivated in Egypt in the time of Moses. Flax is 
first named in the account given of the plagues in Egypt. It is 
stated, that “the flax and barley were smitten,” for “the barley was 
in the ear, and the flax was bolled.” Then, that “the wheat and 
the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up.” From this we 
learn that, 3,000 years ago, there were two crops annually in Egypt, 
as there are at the present day—a winter crop and a summer 
crop. The heat of summer, which was favourable for the growth of 
wheat, was too hot for flax and barley. The last named were the 
winter crops, and were smitten by the storm of hail which occurred 
at this season of the year. 
Such was the fertility of the land, that Egypt became not only 
the greatest wheat producing, but also the largest flax growing 
country in the world, and the great emporium of the linen trade. 
Specimens of linen have been discovered in Egypt which are said 
_ to be fully 4,000 years old. We learn from late researches, 
_ especially by Sir J. G. Wilkinson, that flax was grown, spun, 
P. bleached, and woven long prior to the existence of any historical 
_ record. The processes of manufacture have been admirably 
* The samples were exhibited in the lecture room. 
